Redefining Beauty – The Eczema Diaries

Eczema, the incurable, inflammatory skin condition that brings daily misery to thousands of children and adults.

If you look up eczema in the dictionary it states the following; a medical condition in which patches of skin become rough and inflamed which cause itching and bleeding. Sounds like a tame description to me. Redness, itching, burning, pain, embarrassment, misery, depression, despair – these are just some of the words that spring to mind when I think about my life long battle with eczema.

One of my earliest memories involve eczema, a family holiday to France – my feet were cracked and blistered, not a great combination for a trip to the beach.

And just for the record, the worst thing you can say to an eczema sufferer…’STOP SCRATCHING!’ We will scratch if we want to scratch even if we are left with no skin!

My skin condition hit an all time low when at the age of 28 I was forced to quit my job as a hair and make-up artist and move back home. My eyes were swollen shut, my lips were swollen, my skin was raw, red, bleeding, inflamed and infected. Combined with general ill health I’d developed, things weren’t looking rosy excepted for my inflamed skin! My flare ups were uncontrollable and I began to think I was allergic to life.

I’ve lost count of the number of tubes of steroid cream my body has absorbed – not a great thought for a clean beauty enthusiast.

To manage my condition doctors prescribed more medication but I knew this wasn’t the solution to my problems. Medication was only masking the problem and getting to the root cause of my life limiting skin disease was my mission.

I believe diet plays a key role in keeping your immune system strong and inflammation in the body down, after all the origin of the word eczema means to boil over and if you’ve ever suffered from eczema you will know your skin feels like a bubbling pot of lava….it sometimes looks like lava too. However, I felt like something else was exasperating my skin.

Low and behold an allergy test revealed I was allergic to several chemicals commonly found in conventional cosmetics. So that make-up carer I’d worked so hard to get was put on the back-burner and Flourish Beauty was born – your one-stop, simple and unique clean beauty shopping destination. After all, it’s just as important what you put on your body as what you put in your body.

I still suffer from bouts of eczema, my most recent episode has been a big reminded at how eczema has the power to control your life.

After being free from a severe flare up for just over three years I forgot that showers are agony, moisturising is agony, wearing clothes is agony, it forces you to hide away indoors as even the outdoor air is agony.

As I sit here writing this, trying not to remove to many layers of skin from my hands (that itch is relentless!!!) I realise my eczema has played a big part in directing my life and without it I would have discovered the impact clean cosmetics have not only on our health but on our environment too!

Redefining Beauty – The Skin Diaries will be sharing a host of real life stories about how they deal with, overcome and live with skin disorders that can affect your life. If you’ve got a story to share please her in touch….